Monday, February 18, 2008
Children & Poverty
An interesting Op-Ed piece appeared in the New York Times this morning, responding to a new study that shows the long-term developmental effects of poverty on children. I'd be interested to know, does this new science affect how we think about the American ideal of social mobility? What new problems does this raise for the improvement of education in developing nations, where poverty rates are much higher?
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3 comments:
I thought that article was very interesting, at first i thought some of his thoughts were a little exagerated or a long shot. But then later on I realized how ignorent I was of the situation and that I really have no clue the effects/affects (i always get that confused) poverty has on children. At one part of the article it said To be poor in america today is like being an outcast of your own country. I thought that was a really shocking statement but i see how it is true after reading the article. I also thought it was interesting how the article mentioned "America the land of opportunity" and how it is misleading and that once you are born into a poor family it is almost impossible to get out of poverty. This idea "work hard and get rich" is just not an achievable goal for children in poverty.
I agree with Leisy, its a really hard topic. Obviously people dont choose what family to be born into. Once one is born into a poor house hold and poor family where perhaps education isnt valued as highly, its extremely hard to try and over come all of these obstacles that you have absolutely no control over. Of course, he has been done but I'm sure the cycle of poverty has been continued more than it has been broken.
what the shows is that cycle of poverty and the people who are stuck in the situation actually do have an effect on the country as a whole. if the large population of children in poverty are being substantially hindered educationally then the country as a whole will be less educated, less developed and will fall behind other countries who have a more educated population. this study shows that the problem will have an effect on the country as a whole, so we may not ignore the growing poverty rates any more.
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